“So I’ll wait outside.”
“There’s no need to for you to be there at all.”
“If those women are being held against their will I might be able to help.”
He sighed. “All right. You can be there. But you’re not going in. You will promise to do exactly what I tell you to do, got it?”
“Got it.”
***
Cady walked into her apartment, wrinkling her nose. The place needed to be aired out. She placed the mail she’d grabbed from her mailbox on the coffee table before walking around and opening the windows. It had been three weeks since she’d been back. Somehow, she’d ended up spending every night at Hunter’s place. Not that she was complaining. It surprised her how much she enjoyed being with him, how much she loved going to sleep in his arms.
Hunter was back on surveillance at The House tonight. This was the third time their inside guy would be going in undercover. Tonight, he was hoping to sneak into the manager’s office and find out something on who was running the place.
Cady wished she was going to be there, but Hunter had demanded she stay at home this time. He’d caught her falling asleep while cooking dinner last night. She’d just closed her eyes for a second before the smoke alarms were screaming and the kitchen was hazy with smoke. Hunter had gone all Alpha male, putting her to bed and insisting that she stay in bed today. He’d left an hour ago to meet up with Stanson and she’d taken the opportunity to come check on her apartment.
She felt a little guilty, since she’d promised him she would rest. But she’d been resting all day and she really did need to pick up her mail.
She sorted through everything, throwing out the junk mail. A large envelope with her name on it caught her eye.
Opening it up, she turned it upside down and slid the contents out, her breath seizing in her throat.
“What the fuck?” She flicked her way through all the photos that had spilled out onto the coffee table, arranging them so she could see them all. There had to be nearly thirty photos. All of them of her.
Someone had been following her, taking photos. Nausea bubbled and she swallowed it down. A number of the photos included Hunter. Only his face had been scratched out.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She stood and paced up and down. What the hell was going on? Who would be following her? Stalking her?
Sean? But he lived in Austin. He didn’t know where she lived. What sort of crappy luck did she have to pick up a second stalker?
She needed to get out of here. She needed Hunter. But Hunter wasn’t at home. She could call him. She knew he would drop everything and come running.
Except he needed to be there, he needed to see this through.
No, she couldn’t tell Hunter. Not now, not when he needed all his concentration on what he was doing.
With shaking hands she gathered up all the photos, placing them in the envelope. She’d hide them until she was ready to tell him. Until then, she wasn’t coming back here alone.
***
Cady lowered her phone, fear filling her as the door to the apartment opened. It was four-thirty in the morning and Hunter still wasn’t home. She’d gotten a text around midnight saying he was going to be late, but she’d heard nothing more.
She hadn’t slept a wink. Her mind had been whirling from those photos she’d been sent and if truth be told, she’d been too scared to close her eyes. She hated admitting to feeling fear, but she had no way of knowing if her stalker knew where she was staying. What if he was violent?
Cady stood there, holding her breath, her heart racing as adrenaline pumped through her. When Hunter stepped through the door, she almost collapsed in relief. She had to pull herself together. She couldn’t afford to become a nervous wreck; she had to figure out what was going on here, who was watching her.
What if he came after Hunter?
She needed to tell him. She was going to have a hard time hiding this from him anyway.
“Hey, babe, what are you still doing up?” he asked as he took off his boots and stretched.
“I couldn’t sleep so I got up. You look exhausted.”
He walked over and clasped her face with his hands, kissing her gently on the lips, a long, slow, sweet kiss.
“What was that for?” she asked as he pulled back.